The Funeral Director Code

1. Act in the best interests of each client, and prospective client;
2. Provide the best possible level of care to bereaved people, keeping in mind the specific needs of each client and family;
3. Respect and maintain the dignity of deceased people in our care at all times;
4. Act transparently, with honesty and integrity;
5. Provide clients will full and fair information about services, products and associated prices;
6. Behave in a way that promotes and maintains public trust in our business, the funeral directing profession and related industries;
7. Comply with all legal and regulatory obligations and deal with their regulators in an open, timely and cooperative manner;
8. Run our business effectively and in accordance with proper governance and sound risk management principles;
9. Run our business in a way that encourages equality of opportunity and respect for diversity;
10. Run our business in a way that encourages a culture that values and welcomes both negative and positive feedback as a way of putting things right and continuously improving service; and
11. Conduct appropriate due diligence in relation to all third-party contractual relationships that have the potential to negatively impact clients.

Our standards

We pride ourselves on the high standard of service we provide to the families that entrust us to care for them and their loved one. As part of our membership of the NAFD our premises are regularly inspected to ensure we maintain the standards expected of us and that we work in accordance with the principles of the funeral director code.

Our complaints procedure and how to raise concerns

We want you to be satisfied with the service we have provided for you, we are here to help and support you in whatever way we can. If you have any concerns please speak with your Funeral Director in the first instance or with our Business Support Manager, Louise Ross. We will do everything we can to assist and we are committed to understanding and addressing any concerns you may raise proactively and impartially and with a clear focus on resolution. To assist, our step-by-step process is noted below:

• Please raise any complaint or concern with the funeral director who is taking care of the funeral arrangements for you.  If you feel unable to do this or would like to speak to another member of the team, please contact our Business Support Manager, Louise Ross in the first instance.  You can contact us by telephone, email or letter using the details on the Contact Us page

• We shall endeavour to acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 3 working days.  Wherever possible we will arrange to speak with you to discuss your concerns in more detail and so that we can advise you of what the next steps will be.  If we cannot speak with you directly, we will respond to you by letter

• Your complaint will then be investigated thoroughly and impartially.  This may involve us requesting more information from you or arranging to meet with you.  In certain circumstances we may also need to request further information from members of our team

• We shall provide you with a written response to your complaint once our investigation is concluded.  We aim to provide our written response within 10 working days of your first contact with us.  If we are not able to do this for any reason, we will let you know

• Our written response will detail the outcome of our investigation and what we have done to address or rectify the concerns or complaint you have raised with us

We will always aim to rectify any concerns you have with our service promptly and impartially.  If following the completion of our investigation and our discussions with you, we are unable to resolve the situation to your satisfaction then you can request that your complaint is forwarded to NAFD Resolve.  NAFD Resolve is the UK’s only free and independent resolution service.  It is fully funded by the NAFD, with conciliation and adjudication services provided by qualified professionals from the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR).